MINNEAPOLIS — December is AIDS Awareness Month, and a Minnesota nonprofit hopes more people at risk of contracting the disease will become educated about prevention.

In Minnesota, instances of HIV have remained steady in recent years. The state health department said there were 286 new cases in 2018. That's consistent with the transmission rate over the past decade.

Paul Skrbec, marketing manager for Just-Us Health, an outreach and advocacy organization for the LGBTQ community, said they're still confident they can reach their goal of zero new transmissions. He said they need to keep getting their message out.

"We have all the tools that we need at this point,” Skrbec said. “We just need people to be aware that they're there and how to access them."

Skrbec pointed to the work being done in New York City, where new cases have fallen below 2,000 a year for the first time since the city started keeping records in 2001. He said the decline there and in other cities can be attributed to at-risk individuals taking daily medication that experts say helps reduce transmission risk more than use of condoms alone.

There is also the "U-equals-U" campaign, where those living with HIV are encouraged to maintain a prescribed treatment that suppresses the disease to the point that the viral load is undetectable and it can't be spread to sexual partners.

Despite the optimism, there are still concerns that some demographic groups are more likely to be exposed to the virus. Skrbec said that's certainly the case in Minnesota.

"When you look at it through the lens of communities of color and impacts that they experience compared to other communities, there's definitely a disproportionate impact,” he said.

Minnesota health officials say in 2018, people of color accounted for nearly 60% of new HIV cases. And women of color represented nearly 70% of new cases among females.


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North Dakota has joined a handful of states in modernizing laws about the spread of HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - and criminal penalties associated with it.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong has signed a bill that fully repeals a decades-old law, where someone suspected of willfully transmitting HIV could be charged with a felony and face up to 20 years in prison.

Jason Grueneich - the executive director of the group Shine Bright & Live - said that approach is outdated and only creates more stigma.

He said he feels the old laws, while likely well-intentioned, were adopted out of fear at the height of the crisis.

"Ultimately what happened was," said Grueneich, "instead of protecting the public, it hindered public health."

He said there weren't major threats of infected people trying to spread on HIV on purpose. But he added that those at risk were discouraged from getting tested, even as treatments advanced.

Some lawmakers questioned what could happen if there was malicious intent. Bill supporters, including state health officials, pointed to other laws that protect against that - and without unnecessary penalties.

With this repeal, Grueneich said HIV is no longer singled out among other sexually transmitted diseases.

Now, organizations like his can focus more on increasing awareness within communities across North Dakota.

"What we're seeing now is that the few states that have decriminalized or repealed these laws," said Grueneich, "there is an increase in testing."

Health officials note that today, people with HIV given certain medical treatment can achieve an undetectable viral load, meaning they can't transmit the virus sexually.

Grueneich added that keeping criminalization laws in place only paves the way for a person to make false claims against, for example, an ex-partner.

He said it can be very difficult for someone wrongly accused to state their innocence.




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World AIDS Day is Dec. 1, dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV.

Thousands of people live with H-I-V/Aids in Arizona. More than 80% of those who were diagnosed with the virus in 2020 were linked to care, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Anthony Petro, associate professor of religion and women's, gender and sexuality studies at Boston University, cited progress in how to medically treat the disease and noted how we speak about it has also changed. Petro said some diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, take on a set of political and moral meanings which can affect societal and even scientific views.

"When you think about public health itself, it is the application of medicine to a public and that depends upon us knowing who the public is that we care about," Petro explained.

Petro noted the early years of the AIDS epidemic brought questions about whether the imagined "American public" included certain groups such as queer people, sex workers and IV drug users. He recalled in the absence of "state support," local activists helped advance the movement. He contended it was only when medical researchers decided it was a virus, it gained a level of "prestige" and funding started to flow.

Petro added today, access to reproductive and transgender health care are issues currently walking that moral-political line.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Petro acknowledged Trump's selection has concerned public health experts as Kennedy has expressed a level of suspicion about whether HIV truly causes AIDS. He has instead suggested recreational drugs called "poppers" could be the real reason, which the medical community said is false.

Petro, like others, stressed a lot of work is still needed, related to HIV prevention and treatment.

"To hear someone today in 2024, thinking about those kinds of conspiracy theory approaches to thinking about HIV and AIDS, is certainly troubling, but it is not new," Petro outlined. "And I think we do have a very good infrastructure for HIV/AIDS care."

Petro reminded people about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, which is the use of antiretroviral medication to prevent HIV. Most private insurance and Medicaid programs are required to cover PrEP services without co-pays or deductibles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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Today is National HIV Testing Day. First observed in the U.S. in 1995, anyone who is sexually active is urged to get tested to know their HIV status.

The federal government underscores the importance of testing to show self-value, compassion and respect. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 14,000 Hoosiers are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Alan Witchey, president and CEO of the Damien Center, an HIV/AIDS resource in Indianapolis, said the blood test is free and confidential, and insurance is not required.

"Nobody has to know that you're coming, and you can either make an appointment or you can just walk in," Witchey explained. "It's just a quick finger prick; you will have your results in 20 minutes."

He added testing for other sexually transmitted diseases can be performed at the same time. A positive test result will alert the Damien Center staff to connect the person to support services and the clinic. For a negative result, medication is available for HIV prevention. The services are available at little to no cost.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 100,000 cases of AIDS, the condition which mutates from an HIV diagnosis, were reported in the U.S. between 1981 -- the first reported case -- and 1989. Since then, the invention of life-extending medications has lessened the public's urgency to get tested.

Witchey emphasized HIV is still growing and spreading, even as other epidemics have evolved.

"Even though you don't hear about HIV as much anymore, it is still here," Witchey pointed out. "And a lot of people still have this misconception that HIV is a death sentence, or they won't be able to afford the medications even if they are HIV-positive."

"Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S." is a federal program with the aim of lowering new HIV infections nationwide by 75% by next year and at least 90% by 2030. Funding will be used to zero in on locations with the most frequent HIV transmission.


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